Colter opens the car’s door when we reach it.
“Lilith,” he stops me from getting in, by taking my wrist in a firm but gentle grip. And just when it looks as if I’d lost his attention for good, I find his steely gaze studying me once more. This time it’s different. His look is more focused, as we lock eyes.
My breath catches in my throat at his deep, husky growl.
He leans in, close enough for me to get a deep lungful of his oaky scent, and goosebumps race up my arm from feeling his breath against my neck.
“I’ll see you soon,” he whispers.
Yeah, tomorrow…runs through my mind.
But the tightening knot just below my belly says the implications behind his words have nothing to do with our move. It reaffirms that his lingering eyes aren’t about to find something or someone new to focus on.
I smile, sliding into the leather seat, but do my best to hide it from Colter.
I don’t want him thinking he’s won…
Even though, in some way, he already has.
Chapter Thirteen
Colter
“Careful with th—”
Bang.Bang. Bang.
The sound steals my attention away from Lilith, who’s standing on a stepladder in the kitchen.
Christ, what the fuck is wrong with you?
Those words have played over and over in my mind since I got here. And for good reason.
There’s something wrong with me. Last night, after the Whittakers left, my first thoughts weren’ton my task for the Veil. They drifted endlessly, wanting something, but not any one thing in particular.
I just wanted.
“What are you doing?” the same voice hisses.
The man at fault responds in a language I’m not familiar with. At least, he sounds apologetic.
I’m here underFather’sdirect order, to oversee the movers and to ensure a smooth transition for Maybelle and Lilith. This group, which calls itself EZ-Move, is meant to be the best in the business.
All signs indicate that to be false.
I let their foreman dole out a verbal punishment and then leave them to work. Most of this shit is going into storage anyway. Whatever it was that fell, it can’t be important.
This is beneath me,I groan internally. No doubt it’s a punishment from the Head, doing what I feared he might do by blurring the lines between me being his son and being the Ghost.
Lilith isn’t stirred by their commotion. She remains on the ladder, stretching high into the air to reach items on the cupboard’s top shelf. I focus on her again. I am captured by the spectacle of her tight ass squeezed into a pair of pink cotton booty shorts. Her thighs glisten from a thin coat of sweat that’s built up from running around all morning.
Not that she or Maybelle needed to do anything. The order placed includes packing and delivering the entire house. We even paid extra for an expedited job.
Reach out and touch it, intrusive thoughts whisper ominously.
Aren’t they supposed to be worse? Intrusive thoughts, that is. By keeping my mind sharp and rarely allowing myself to be distracted, I haven’t had much experience with them. But from what I’ve heard, they’re meant to jump at you with a flash and bang, leaving you feeling ashamed, disgusted, or disoriented.
Touch it, inspires none of those reactions in me. My internal voice is timid. Pathetic. Schoolboy playground bullshit.
